Light
by littleoddstar
Summary: Leslie meets the Doctor after being engulfed with a bright, white light. Armed with only their vague memories of episodes and their intellect, they are determined to do all they can to improve the outcomes. And make sure that they don't mess up the timelines too much.
1. A Strange Mixture of Berries

**Light**

Disclaimer: I only own the plot. So far...

(Brackets): extra additions.

 _Italics_ : thoughts.

 **Bold** : accentuated.

CAPS: shouting. (Duh.)

 **oOo** : new scene? Part?

 **xXx** : end of chapter.

 **xXx**

"Congrats, Leslie," "Good job, Lez," and, "Oh em gee! You survived Uni!" are the main things they heard at the end-of-uni party for all the graduates. It was noisy, the lights were irritating and all Leslie wanted to do was go home and sleep, maybe after revelling in the joy of freedom briefly. But they were allowed to leave, officially, at 7:00, so they still had 15 minutes to deal with, according to their watch. Someone fell into them, and they stepped back, rolling their eyes. _Moronic hordes of drunken students._ Leslie grabbed some punch (out of the **un** -spiked bowl, thank you very much) and headed outside to relax. It had been a trying few weeks, and all they really wanted to do was be alone and **rest**. They went to sit outside the hall and gazed out over the grounds, sipping the punch (they were pretty sure it was a mixture of sweet berries, with a hint of… pineapple and coconut?).

Looking out at the grounds, Leslie realised and once again appreciated (with a touch of surprise that they felt so strongly about it) that they were really going to miss this place. Sure, it was mainly concrete, but the few garden areas were beautiful (even if a bit overgrown). And, yeah, they didn't really like the people here, but the teachers weren't all that bad (even though they give them headaches). They sighed. It could be one of the worst looking universities in the world, with some of the most snobby students and noisiest teachers, but they would still miss it. _Psychological fact, probably._ They would clarify with their best friend later. Leslie glanced over to the hall: everyone was still dancing and laughing, just as they had been an hour previously, when the sun was still up. _Where does the energy come from? Alcohol?_

Too tired to do anything else, they sat under the stars until the alarm they'd set for 7 went off, then they walked over to the gate and let themself out, their absence unnoticed.

They began walking along the footpath that lead to the varsity area where their apartment was situated. It was only a brief walk, one that they had done many times, and Leslie took the time to appreciate the view of the small lakes that dotted the field behind the school.

It was actually quite beautiful, under the bright moon and cloudless sky. The stars reflected in the pools of water and the torchlight lit the path as they switched on the flash of their phone as they walked onto the footpath beside the road.

They walked for a few metres before there was a flash of light, brighter than they had ever seen, and the sound of static.

 **xXx**


	2. Testing the Limits of Dreams

When Leslie came to (they assumed that they had been unconscious – they doesn't just randomly fall asleep on their feet, as far as they were aware of), it was to receive a pounding headache, and to see a unfamiliar red-head peering down at them anxiously. They looked past the woman, hoping to get a glimpse of the room (they had slight tunnel vision, only accentuated by their eyes' inability to work as a team), but the only thing they noticed was that it is white, _very_ white, before she went back to thinking about the woman.

 _Where do I know her from? At least, I feel like I should know her. Wait.._. They peered at the woman again, taking in the bright hair and jacket, the youthful face and far too short shorts. _She reminds me of Amelia Pond, from Doctor Who._ They briefly entertained the concept, before discarding it. _Get a grip. You just came out of unconsciousness, you can't just walk around (not that they could walk) accusing strangers of being people that were only ever fictional_. Leslie was quite set in their 'I won't call people by names on the TV' policy when the red-head turned, and called out,

"RORY! Lez is awake! Get your stupid face down here!"

Leslie's mind created the equivalent of a question mark and exclamation combined. _There is no way this can be happening! Maybe? No. I am dreaming. This isn't Amy Pond, this isn't the TARDIS med bay._ It wouldn't have been the first time that Leslie had found themselves creating entire days and events within dreams. _It is natural for the mind to predict events through dreams. Thus, any actions I take will have no effect on the real world. I may as well go along with it._

"Excuse me? Two- no, sorry, three questions: One, are you Amelia Pond, Two, where am I? And Three, how do you know my name?" Acting on spontaneity, they asked another question to test the limits of their mind."And, also, a bonus four, not that you'll be able to answer this for certain, am I dreaming?"

The woman (now dubbed as Amy) nodded for the first, turned pale at the second, became shocked at the third, and seemed to go into mourning at the fourth. Even though this was obviously bad news, watching Amy's face go through this process was fascinating. In the corner of their mind, something noticed that their voice was more normal-sounding than it should have been after just waking up, but they mentally shrugged it off. _Dreams._

"RORY!" Amy yelled again, and Leslie winced. _Wow, rude._ Amy looked down at her and said a soft, "Sorry,", moving away from the bed Leslie was lying on to sit in the chair a little away from it, before going back to yelling, "Bring the Doctor with you!"

 _Okay, I am dreaming. This can not be happening._ They grinned at the white ceiling, nonetheless. Leslie spared a moment to wonder wondered where they were in the time stream, and they'd have shrugged, but they still had that pounding headache.

Rory rushed into the room, panting (he'd obviously run- obviously) and once looking at Leslie, smiled. They smiled back, their lips closed, unsure of how to react. He came closer to the bed and Amy flung herself into her husband's arms.

"They don't know! They think they're dreaming!" she said in an indeterminable tone into his shirt.

"What don't they know? Dreaming what?" Asked a voice from the doorway. Leslie turned their head to face it (this room was way too white) and saw, standing there, the Doctor. _He is even taller in real life,_ they noted with a frown. _Not fair._ The Doctor, however, was focused on Amy.

"No..." he whispered, his face pale, and Amy nods. He turned to look at Leslie.

"Lez?" he asked, almost pleading.

"Well, I normally am," they said, only slightly unsure of whether they still were. The Doctor however, frowned as if working out a terribly difficult problem, and he immediately made a (bad) excuse to leave the room.

"I've got a thing... I'll just..." he said to Rory, who nodded, rubbing Amy's back consolingly. The Doctor ran out of the room, the door slamming shut behind him. Leslie winced at the noise. _Can't anyone consider my headache?_ They complained internally.

"What was that?" they asked (snapped), curious (irritated).

"That's- complicated. And spoilers. And you said to never tell you. Sorry- future you. But they said I could tell you that."

Even dream-wise, this was insane. The lucid dreaming they were now participating in must have had a skewed effect, meaning that anything was possible, really. Which meant that it was insane, from a logical perspective.

"So... let me guess." Rory blinked, then nodded consent, still comforting Amy. "Alright, wild stab at the dart: I'm in an alternate universe where the Doctor is real, and I know him, but I keep on jumping around for some reason or another, and even though I'm like your best friend or something, this is the first time I, **me** I, have come here. That it?" Amy spun around in disbelief, a shocked expression on her face. This would be the ultimate test of the amount of control they had over the dream.

Rory nodded slowly, "Yeah, pretty much."

"Alright, question: what happens just before I 'jump'" they asked. Their headache had intensified, and there was a sharp throbbing behind their right eye. Maybe, if they concentrated enough...

"You said that you got a headache, and you get this white glow..." he said uncertainly, then appeared to notice the white tint to their skin, "Oh."

"Yeah, 'oh'."

They were leaving, just as they had suspected. _Maybe this is me waking up,_ they considered. _Maybe I'm not holding on to the dream enough. I barely even remember falling asleep, so it probably is me waking up._

"How long have I got?" they asked Rory. But Amy replied.

"About a minute."

Leslie swallowed, and nodded, trying to force their eyes to remain open. They sat up, despite the headache, and the white room spun. Rory abandoned Amy to help them steady themself.

"Your gravitational balance will take a while to kick in. Just lean on me until you're ready." He explained.

Leslie closed their eyes until the dizzy spell was over, then nodded, and Rory helped them to stand up. After finding their 'gravitational balance' (if such a thing really existed in the TARDIS), they motioned for Rory to leave them be and began walking around the small room. Their eyes were falling closed more and more frequently, and their headache wasn't letting up. They must be leaving soon. They spun to face the couple - may as well make a dramatic (forced) abscond.

"Alright- Ames, Roronicus," the pair blinked at the nicknames, "Catcha." Leslie winked before disappearing in golden sparks.

The remaining inhabitants of the room stared in shock at the place they had been before they disappeared.

"Did they just-" Rory started.

"Yes. They did," Amy said, a wide smile on her face.

 **xXx**


	3. Apple Grass and Psychografts

Leslie landed in a shower of golden sparks, and almost instantly noticed that they were in the coral TARDIS. This meant it was either the ears or the coat ruling the time vortex, they thought. What they didn't so instantly notice was that they weren't wearing shoes (they hadn't noticed this at the other TARDIS either: that was just disappointing). However, this was brought to their attention when they started walking towards the console. _Metal is freezing,_ they decided. As soon as this thought rushed through their mind, the TARDIS gave a hum, and the floor heated.

"Thanks, Dear," Leslie muttered, and the TARDIS gave another hum in thanks.

The Doctor (coat version. Awesome) decided at that moment to pop his head around the side of the TARDIS.

"Oh. Hello, Leslie!" he said (with a noticeable Scottish burr, unlike his TV counterpart), grinning wildly. When the Doctor moved closer, Lez took a step backwards, bumping against the railing. He stopped, noticing the outfit and the reaction, and pulled a face. _How could he tell by the outfit? Oh, yea - when else would I wear a suit?_

"Early days, huh?" Lez nodded. _Early_ , they thought with a scoff. _Try first._

"Been convinced that it's not a dream yet?"

They frowned, "Do I need to be? I mean, 'cause I do tend to dream, like normal people do, and I noticed that while you're still in it, you can't tell if it's real or fake." Leslie screwed their mouth to the side. "I'm just going to stick with: If it's not a dream, awesome!" The Doctor grinned at this, "If it is, I'll enjoy it while it lasts.'"

"Good philosophy! That's a good word, philosophy, a brilliant word in fact, and why haven't you got any shoes?" he finished, noticing Leslie's lack of footwear.

They rolled their eyes. _BBC hadn't gotten it that wrong. He has a gob in real life, to_ o. A voice called from by the coral archway (they'd noticed that, unlike the BBC had made it, there were coral archways in the walls that most likely led to other parts in the TARDIS. They should probably stop comparing things to the BBC).

"Doctor, who are you talking to?"

Lez spun around to face the new arrival, who was slowly making her way up the stairs. They almost instantly noticed the blonde hair, and grinned. Awesome. Leslie appraised Rose's outfit. Blue jumper, black pants. They turned to face the Doctor, beaming.

"New Earth, huh? I can't wait, though we're sure to smell of apples afterwards," they asked excitedly. The future seemed like a pretty nice place to be, despite the patches of skin in the basement and the events that would occur later in time.

The Doctor grinned at their enthusiasm and Rose gasped.

"Lez?" she questioned, noticing them. "It's you! Oh, I was wondering when you were going to drop by again!" they said cheerfully, enveloping her in a hug. Lez, used to hugging people on greeting (they had awesome friends in high school), went with the flow, briefly considering adopting such a statement as their new mantra.

After retreating from the hug, Leslie commented lightly, "Well, for a first meeting, you've made an excellent impression, Rose."

The TARDIS went into an awkward silence that was broken by the Doctor clapping his hands together and rushing to the console, dancing around flipping levers, and the TARDIS shook before landing with a thud. The Doctor leaned underneath the console, reaching around for something before withdrawing with an 'aha!'. He turned to face Leslie, holding in his hands a pair of running shoes exactly their size.

"Future you left them here the last time they came - said that having extra shoes would come in handy, given the amount of times they loose them," he explained with a grin. They put them on without voicing complaint, though it was rather sad that they wouldn't be changing shoe size any time soon.

The Doctor rushed over to the doors, Lez and Rose sharing a smile before following. The Doctor flung the door, and smiled, stating, "Companions first."

Lez took Rose's arm in their own and said, "How kind of you," in a dry tone that was only softened by the wide grin on their face. They walked out of the TARDIS, closely followed by the Doctor. They found themselves gazing out over a river to a beautiful city, with cars zipping around in the air. It was stunning.

"It's the year five billion and twenty-three. We're in the galaxy M87, and this, as Leslie said, is New Earth," the Doctor said as they watched the cars in the city.

"That's- That's just-" Rose said, unable to find words.

"Amazing. Brilliant. Fantastic," Leslie suggested, grinning.

"All of those," Rose laughed, "Oh, I'll never get used to this. Never."

"Different ground beneath my feet," Leslie started (Yes, they stole Rose's line. That was what they were there for).

"Different sky," Rose completed, "What's that smell?"

Leslie grinned. "Apple grass. Pretty cool, huh?"

"Apple grass?" Rose asked.

"Apple grass," the Doctor confirmed, grinning manically.

"Oh, this is amazing," Rose smiled. "What's that city?" she asked.

"New New York," Lez and the Doctor chorused.

"Oh, come on," Rose giggled, "Really?"

"It is," Leslie insisted, "It's the city of New New York. Strictly speaking, it's the fifteenth New York since the original, so that makes it New New New, New New New, New New New, New New New, New New New New York." They counted the 'new's on their fingers, nodding when they reached fifteen. Noticing that the Doctor was pouting, they grinned. Despite the many years that had passed since Ten's Era and the episode itself, the quote was too memorable to forget.

"It's all right, Doctor," they consoled him, "The next time you prattle off information, I'll let you say the finishing joke." The Doctor stopped rolled his eyes jokingly and Leslie grinned.

"So, can we go visit New New York? So good, they named it twice?" Rose asked.

"Actually, no. We're going there," the Doctor said, pointing to a glassy building off to the side of the city with a green moon on the side.

"What is it?" Rose asked.

"It's a hospital," Leslie said.

"I received a message on my psychic paper," the Doctor explained, "Off we go! Allons y!"

Leslie massaged their cheeks, sore from the constant grin adorning their face.

 **oOo**

"Bit rich coming from you," Rose laughed while Leslie rolled their eyes.

"I can't help it. I don't like hospitals. They give me the creeps," The Doctor complained, as the intercom sounded in the background.

"Not exactly NHS," Rose criticised, looking around the hospital interior. It was rather metallic, and nothing like the hospitals in the 21st century. The Doctor ignored her.

"No little shop. I like the little shop," He complained. _The little shops are only there to get extra funds. They serve no purpose unless they have stuffed toys._ The trio started walking slowly toward the lifts.

"I'd have thought this far in the future they'd have cured everything," Rose stated curiously.

"Viruses advance faster than humans do - we may have been able to cure everything that challenges us back home ages ago, but there are still more illnesses facing us now. Especially given the extra-terrestrial contact," Leslie said, their science showing.

Rose nodded in understanding, then looked around wildly at the nurses. "They're cats," she said in disbelief.

"Now, don't stare. Look what you look like to them, all... pink and yellow," the Doctor told Rose.

"Wow, rude," Leslie said in a falsely insulted tone.

The Doctor just grinned, before saying, "I look the same as you to them, anyway."

Leslie nodded, acknowledging the statement to be true. They crinkled their nose at the hospital smell that was now overpowering the apple smell attached to their clothing. "You would think that by now the hospitals smelled less like… hospital," they said to Rose, who nodded in agreement.

"Right there." the Doctor said suddenly. "That's where I'd put the shop." He walks into the lift (Ward 26, thanks!), and Leslie paused for a moment, failing to remember what happened next.

"Let's go," Leslie said to Rose, and the latter walked into the lift with the Doctor. Just as Leslie began walking in after them, the lift closed, trapping them outside.

"Leslie!" They heard the Doctor call from inside the lift, "Are you okay? Is there another lift?"

"Yea, there is!" they assured the two, and got into the lift that had just arrived, asking for Ward 26. But the lift went down, and Leslie panicked as they found themself unable to recall what happened in the episode.

A robotic voice sounded, "Commence Stage One Disinfection", and spray shot out of the roof and walls. Leslie began washing their hair, the curls at the top of their head becoming drenched and falling into their eyes. In comparison, the hair at the sides and back (which was considerably shorter) barely retained any water at all. _Such is the way of curly, frizzy hair._

After the brief shower and intense drying that left their hair resembling a fluffy brush, the doors opened to a dimly lit corridor filled with rubbish. There was a young man with patterns adorning the visible parts of his body waiting for her outside the lift. Leslie stepped out, and greeted him, in a posh voice,

"Hello, old chap. I must say, your patterns are looking absolutely vibrant today." Leslie paused as one of the words resonated through their head. "You're Chip! Okay, I know what's going on now. Lead the way," they exclaimed, bowing.

They were led down the corridor into a room. Though Leslie didn't remember anything about the episode, the small screen, playing a video of Cassandra at a dinner party when she was still beautiful, lit a memory in her mind. Leslie ignored the screen, and addressed the current Cassandra.

"Hello, Cassie," Leslie said to the sheet of skin on the rusted frame.

"Hello, freak," the skin greeted them. Leslie beamed, ignoring the part of themself that shrunk away from the comment while simultaneously twisting their stomach.

"Radiant as ever, I see. How's Chip doing? Are you feeding him right?" Leslie asked, half out of genuine concern.

"I worship the mistress," Chip told them, "She does no wrong."

"Trust me, she does quite a bit wrong. What right-minded person would do this to themself?" Leslie gestured at the trampoline-lady.

"Moisturise me, moisturise me," Cassandra sang, and Chip darted over to her, spray bottle in hand. It was rather sickening to see someone obey orders like that, especially if they had no other choice.

"How are you doing after your self-destruction?" Leslie asked her, watching in a sort of horrified fascination as Chip sprayed every centimetre of the skin.

"You mean, after Rose murdered me?" Cassandra said nastily.

"You're the one that exploded, so wwhatevver." Leslie smiled victoriously as they recalled where the skin was from. "Oh yeah! You're literally talking out of your a-"

"Ask not!" Cassandra interjected, a nasty scowl forming.

"Mistress was lucky to survive," Chip informed them, "Chip secreted m'lady into the hospital. Chip steals medicine. Helps m'lady. Soothes her, strokes her."

Leslie suppressed a shudder. _Too much information_ , their mind stated.

"But I'm so alone, hidden down here," Cassandra told them, self-pitying, "The last human in existence."

Leslie laughed. "You did this to yourself. You want sympathy? Stop being so self centred. Now, cut to the chase, we may as well end this conversation here." They took a calming breath as energy grabbed their hands and held them stationary.

"Chip, activate the psychograft!" Cassandra demanded, and Chip flipped a lever. Light streamed down from a contraption above her head. Cassandra, of course, had a little 'Farewell, I win', message.

"The Lady's moving on. It's goodbye trampoline, and hello, human."

There was a stream of energy travelling from Cassandra to Leslie, then everything stopped and Leslie collapsed.

Chips rushes over. "Mistress?" he called frantically.

Cassie groaned, and said frantically, "Moisturise me!" before stopping. Cassie stood up, and examined her stolen body. (A.N: Cassandra in Leslie's body will be called Cassie, with female pronouns.)

"How bizarre." she commented, looking at 'her' arms: they were tanned bronze, and she had 'Piano fingers'. She tugged at a lock of hair falling down her face: it was a brown-gold, and absolutely gorgeous.

"Arms, fingers, hair!" she noticed that Chip was carrying a mirror and held out her hands, making grabby motions.

"Let me see! Let me see!" Cassie demanded. She looked at her new features. Prominent eyebrows, pretty pink lips, a faint scattering of freckles on her olive cheeks. Grey eyes with dark lashes. Messy ringlets on top of her head. Light scarring, but that gave her character.

"Oh my God! I'm tanned!"

 **xXx**


	4. Promised Reactions and Solutions

While Cassandra was in her mind, Leslie was viewing the world as if in a dream. They felt, rather than heard, people talking, and saw the actions she was making rather than making them. Her senses were dulled, protected by a shimmering gold mist. However, when Cassandra left them, it was like being dunked in cold water and placed in front of the sun.

Leslie gasped, and held her head, the heels of her palms pressing into their eyes and their nails digging into their scalp. Outside her little bubble of pain and light, they heard Rose and the Doctor-Cassandra talking, but couldn't pay attention, too busy trying to organise their mind.

A loud bang sounded, and they heard the diseased people coming towards them, gasping out 'Please's and 'Help's. They heard Cassandra screeching in the Doctor's voice. They blinked, trying to keep their eyes open and mind clear long enough to function.

"What do we do? What would he do? The Doctor, what the hell would he do?"

Leslie's eyes darted around, the double vision almost unbearable. "The ladder," they said, their voice rough, "We've got to get up."

Doctor-Cassandra immediately started climbing, Rose following close behind. They began backing up, right eye closed so that they could see, if only they could see, where was the ladder, _where is it-_

They found the ladder and pressed themself against it, trying to avoid the grasping hands. But wherever the hands touched them (they should have been infected now, what was going on?) there were only a brief zap of energy, as if they were full of static.

One of the infected fell into them, and they caught them by the shoulders, a rush of energy moving through the two. Leslie gently pushed the woman back before scampering up the ladder so that they couldn't be reached. The woman looked up at her, still as sick as before, but more lucid and focused.

"Are you okay?" Leslie called down.

The woman looked up at them, their eyes clear. "It hurts, but you can fix it, right?"

"I'll need help," Leslie said, "but I'll do my best."

And with that, they followed Rose and Doctor-Cassandra up the ladder, their headache still a vague reminder behind their eyes, but the energy they had felt previously had dissipated, so that was something.

When they reached the pair, the two were trying to get through the doors to the next level. But Cassandra was switching between them, with the Doctor demanding she 'give Rose back' and Rose telling her to 'go into me, for gods sakes'. When Cassandra next switched into Rose, Lez tugged on her leg.

"Just go into me," they said, resigned and annoyed. _Is maturity alive?_

"I ain't complaining," said Rose-Cassandra, and the energy stream went back into Leslie, and the world became a dream again.

"Not them again," the Doctor growled, "You've damaged their mind enough."

Cassie frowned. "Just open the doors. They're trying to get something done. And also; wow, rude."

The Doctor sonic-ed the door open and they all went into the Ward 26 waiting room.

"This is your last warning, Cassandra." he told Cassie, who upon entering the room had immediately sat down on the floor, her eyes closed.

"What are you doing?" Cassi said to the original occupant of the body, "Oh, I see. No, I don't. What on earth is bio-med? Biomedical science? That seems useful. Can't you just mix it all up? Wait, who's the purple woman? Well, if you kept your mind on task, I wouldn't need to ask. Well, why can't we ask the Doctor? Or Rose?"

The Doctor and Rose shared confused expressions as Cassie kept on with her internal conversation.

"What's with all the worry for Rose all of a sudden? Casualties? What war? How do you know this? Oh, you've only just met her, sure. You can't save all of them. Why do you need that? Fine, fine. This is boring anyway."

Leslie forced their eyes open, pushing themself up off the ground. They rolled their eyes, muttering about thought processes and annoying trampolines.

The other occupants of the room had been watching this exchange with varied levels of caution. The Doctor turned to them, clapped his hands (making them all jump) and started talking.

"So hows it going up here? What's the status?"

Frau Clovis answered him. "There's nothing but silence from the other levels. I think we're the only ones left. And I've been trying to override the quarantine. If I can trip a signal to New New York, they can send a private executive squad."

Leslie turned around. "No, we can't leave. We created this problem, we solve it. Well, you created the problem, but now we're here, so you have a chance of solving it. Doctor, do you have a plan?"

The Doctor grinned: he did have a plan, it seemed. _Of course he does_ , Leslie told themself. _It's the Doctor._ "Now, there are ten million people in this hospital that we're going to save. Frau Clovis, guess where that puts you?"

"Where?"

"Ten million and one. Everyone else is added on from there! Now, Rose, Novice Hame, everyone! Excuse me, Your Grace. Get intravenous solutions for every single disease. We're mixing up an antidote."

"Wait, what?!" Leslie interrupted. All eyes moved to them, and they faltered, before voicing their thoughts. "Is that really going to work? Think of the different diseases and chemicals in order to combat that disease. Doctor, you're telling me that there won't be any reaction between the solutions?"

The Doctor pondered this for a moment, before nodding, his eyes wide. "You're right. So, you think we should do them one at a time?"

Leslie nodded. "Or we could combine non-reactive solutions. It's not very fast, but if we wash them with water between each solution, it'll work. We just need to get them to calm down." They addressed the room with a smile "So: gather solution, then await further instruction."

When no-one took any action, the Doctor added: "Move it!" and the room was filled with motion. Everyone grabbed drip bags wile the Doctor collected a long piece of heavy silk rope and started hanging it on his body.

He turned to Leslie, his hands in a 'what do you think?' position. They scrutinised him, and nodded, "It'll do. I'm gonna take a break."

They relaxed slightly, and Cassandra returned. "Blimey. Being shoved in a cell at the back of someone's head is not fun." Rose glared at her.

"And what is it you're doing?" she asked Cassandra, hands on her hips. Cassandra rolled her eyes.

"We can fight later. Move, alien boy!"

The Doctor opened the lift doors and moved through them towards the cables. He began working on a wheel to take them down to the lift.

"The lifts aren't working," Cassandra reminded him irritably.

"Not moving. Different thing. Rose, go back and help them, okay? Don't let them do anything drastic," she nodded, and he pulled out his sonic.

"Here we go!" The Doctor put the screwdriver between his teeth and ran for the cables. He jumped, and grabbed them.

"What do you thing you're doing?" Cassandra asked him.

"I'm going down," the Doctor said, "Come on!"

"Not in a million years," Cassandra told him shortly. Leslie's fear of falling had carried on into her, and had been heightened by the trampoline's survival instincts.

"I need another pair of hands. What do you think? If you're so desperate to stay alive, why don't you live a little?"

As Cassie considered this (and thought of a witty retort) Frau Clovis yelled out, "Seal the doors!" and they were trapped.

Sick of the indecision, Leslie pushed for Cassie to join the Doctor and she did so grudgingly.

He grinned, "Going down!"

His improvised wheel worked amazingly. They dropped down to the lift, Cassandra stifling a scream. They dropped down into the lift, Cassandra wobbling slightly while the Doctor agilely moved around.

"Now, listen. When I say so, take hold of that lever," he told Cassandra.

She frowned. "There's still a quarantine down there, we can't," Cassandra pointed out.

The Doctor started taking the drip bags off the silken rope. "Hold that lever!" he demanded. "I'm going to need to do this in the order of severity and reactivity. So, this first..." He descended into mutters.

Cassandra rolled her eyes. The Doctor started ripping some the drips open and pouring the contents into the lift's disinfectant tank. As he did so, he instructed her on what to do.

"Now, that lever's going to resist. But keep it in position. Hold onto it with everything you've got." he emphasised.

"What about you?" Cassandra asked, Leslie's concern leaking through.

"I've got an appointment," he told her with a wink. "The Doctor is in."

And he dropped down into the lift.

 **xXx**


	5. Intellectual Compensation

Leslie sat on the floor of the room they had conjured in their mind, twirling their hair around their fingers out of boredom. They felt another presence, and jumped up, prepared for an attack - anything was possible in a dream - but relaxed and sat down again when they realised who it was.

"Heya, Jack," she greeted the American, who had just walked into the room, wearing his trademark WWII coat, "Nice body, but your head seems a bit small."

Jack laughed. "This is my perception of myself," he winked, "I've got to compensate."

"For what, your intelligence?" they retorted, and Jack clasped a hand over his heart as if he'd been shot.

He looked around the room, raising an eyebrow at the minimalism. "Why so simple? Not got much in your mind?"

Leslie shook their head, the white room dissolving into a forest lit by glowing lights at their command. "No, we're in a chamber separate from the actual palace - a term I use loosely."

Jack laughed. "What's with the solitary confinement?" he asked, sitting down beside them.

"Hardly solitary if you're here," Lez said truthfully, "Speaking of which, why **are** you here?"

"I don't want to talk to Cassandra," Jack said, "She insulted my dashing good looks."

He posed and they laughed, sitting a while in companionable silence. Leslie couldn't really think of anything to talk about, and Jack was fine with just having someone to talk to.

"Well, best be off. I have a reputation of being dramatic, I have to keep up appearance," Jack told them, and stood up as Leslie did the same.

"See you 'round, Jack," they said, and hugged him just before he disappeared.

They sat back down on the grass, cross-legged, and hummed Nattoppet. Suddenly, the room was filled with a blinding white light and-

 **oOo**

They collapsed into the Doctor's arms, and he jumped slightly.

"Oh!" he exclaimed in surprise, "You alright?" Leslie tried to get up, but their legs weren't strong enough. "Whoa!" the Doctor said, catching them again. "You okay?" he asked them.

"Yea. I mean, the headache isn't fun, and I'd like the cooperation of my limbs, but hey, I'm alive," they said flippantly. They blinked twice, rolling their shoulders before standing again.

This time, they didn't fall over, and were able to hi-five the Doctor. "So, are we glad that I was there?"

"Definitely," Rose said, walking over, "Mr Clever here would have probably blown something up without you." The Doctor looked scandalised, but Leslie flashed a smile.

Cassandra walked over to them in Chip's body, glaring at the tattoos adorning 'her' skin. "Oh, sweet Lord. I'm a walking doodle."

After making sure, again, that Leslie could stand, the Doctor walked closer to Cassandra.

"You can't stay there," he told her coolly, "I'm sorry, Cassandra, but that's not fair. I can take you to the city. They can build you a skin tank and you can stand trial for what you've done."

Cassandra considered this. "Well, that would be rather dramatic. Possibly my finest hour, and certainly my finest hat, but I'm afraid we don't have time."

Leslie gave a forced smile at the statement, before wincing as the headache came back in full force. _I've spent most of my time with a headache… what's going on? Maybe I did drink the spiked punch._

"Poor little Chip is only a half-life, and he's been through so much. His heart is racing so. He's failing," she said, "I don't think he's going to last." Cassandra staggered and fell to her knees as Leslie did the same and vanished in a flash of light.

 **xXx**


	6. Adaptive Cure? Nah

Leslie appeared in a dimly lit area with alien artifacts on display. They lay on the carpeted floor, exhausted. The ends of their vision were black, and as they sank into unconsciousness, they heard the blaring of an alarm and saw a flash of red.

 **oOo**

Leslie awoke with a gasp, their eyes opening before slamming shut again to protect their pupils from the light.

"Finally," said a disinterested male voice, "It's awake. Doctor Smith, what is it?"

Another, higher pitched voice spoke out from above them. "Human, but has strange energy levels - this could be behind its appearance."

"You. Thing," the first voice said, "What are you, and who am I to you? Smith, turn down the lights so that it can open its eyes."

Leslie did as the man said and opened their eyes, glad to see that the lights had been dimmed. They blinked rapidly, trying to get the room into focus.

"I am human," they said confidently, their voice hoarse.

"Who am I? Do you know me?" the first voice asked again. She turned her head to look at the male. She recognised him from somewhere. But they didn't know who he was.

"No, and no. Who are you?"

"That's not important. Put it under."

 **oOo**

Leslie was soon moved to a mattress at waist height, surrounding by machinery that resembled a hospital bed. The majority of the times they woke, it was to being prodded by needles or taking skin samples, though they did allow them to be awake in order to monitor brain activity. Unless Leslie spent long periods of time being studied (which they preferred to do while they were asleep), they ate normal food, but only small amounts. The perfect calorie count.

They knew that it would only be a few days until the Doctor arrived, but when they woke to see him spread-eagle on the wall with only jeans on, they weren't quite prepared.

"Hello, thing. I've found you a friend," Van Statten greeted them. "His name is the Doctor, apparently. I'm just about to do some tests," he smiled, "Should be fun."

The Doctor awoke with a gasp.

"Now, smile!" Van Statten told him, and aimed the laser at the Doctor's torso. It moved down, scanning the time-lord.

"Two hearts!" Van Statten exclaimed happily, "Binary vascular system. Oh, I am so going to patent this."

"So, that's your secret," the Doctor spat, "You don't just collect this stuff, you scavenge it."

Leslie would have cheered at his strength, but the laser looked vaguely painful.

"This technology has been falling to Earth for centuries. All it took was the right mind to use it," Van Statten boasted.

"Oh, the advances I've made from alien junk. You have no idea, Doctor. Broadband? Roswell. Just last year my scientists cultivated bacteria from a Russian crater, and do you know what we found? The cure for the common cold," he said smugly.

Leslie frowned, unsure whether or not that was actually possible. _Unless the cure adapts as the illness does, there's no way it could be a permanent cure. This guy can't be as smart as he claims to be._

"Kept it strictly within the laboratory of course. No need to get people excited. Why sell one cure when I can sell a thousand palliatives? Oh, and the freak over there?" he gestured over to Leslie, and the Doctor's face turned from one of hatred and disgust to one of shock and sadness when he realised it was them.

"There's something about their mind… it produces an energy unlike anything we've seen. We'll need brain tissue to run further tests, but it may cause… damage," Van Statten said, grinning evilly. _So this is what they've planned. Cut my head open for nothing, just to see what they can do._

"Do you know what a dalek is, Van Statten?" the Doctor said hatefully, "A Dalek is honest. It does what it can for the survival for its species. That creature in your dungeon is better than you." Leslie agreed fully.

Van Statten shrugged, "In that case, I will be true to myself and continue."

The Doctor started panicking, and Leslie couldn't blame him- having the bane of your race a floor below you was a worthy reason to panic.

"Listen to me!" he shouted, "That thing downstairs is going to kill every last one of us!"

"Nothing can escape the cage," Van Statten told him dismissively, and blasted him with the laser again.

"But it's woken up, it knows I'm here. It's going to get out," the Doctor pleaded, "Van Statten, I swear, no-one on this base is safe. No-one on this planet!"

Van Statten ignored him and ran the laser scan again, making the Doctor scream. Leslie bit their lip, peeling the skin off as they worried at it. _This had been one of the more memorable episodes… but I don't really remember the middle of it. Unfortunate. Wow, brain, rude._

"This is not a drill. I repeat, this is not a drill." The automated voice sounded from over the speakers, and Van Statten moved back, his face confused. Leslie let their head fall back onto the pillow, their neck sore from looking to the left for so long.

"Release us if you want to live." the Doctor said, panting, and Van Statten (always with his self-preservation in mind) undid the chains binding him. "Them too," the Doctor added, and Van Statten rolled his eyes before removing the belt holding Leslie to the bed.

They swung their legs off the side of the bed, examining the muscles. They couldn't have been there for more than five days, Leslie noted. Their eyes began falling shut and they forced them open. _I don't particularly want to wake up._

"Can you walk, Leslie?" the Doctor asked, hovering around them. They nodded, standing and taking a few steps, their joints cracking nastily.

They used their new ability to move their body to walk over to Van Statten and slap the top of his head, the bones in their palm knocking against his temple. He jerked back, his eyes wide, lifting his own hand. They grabbed it, squeezing it so that the tendons shifted.

"You don't touch either of us again. Got it?" they hissed, their voice cold. Van Statten nodded frantically, and they released him, returning to the Doctor.

"Let's go."

 **xXx**


	7. The Fear of Nothing

Leslie had sat down as soon as they made it into the room, and ignored the following conversation. Each the destroyer of the other's race but one, the Doctor and the Dalek were likely to see whether or not they could annihilate each other completely. But Leslie didn't really need to hear much of it, just one line...

"You would make a good Dalek." There it was, and that was so, so wrong. Daleks killed for the sake of it- the Doctor killed his race and the Daleks, going against everything he stood for, just so the universe wasn't destroyed in the crossfire.

"No, you wouldn't," Leslie told him, and he turned around, his face filled with self-hate.

"Really?" he spat. "Why not? Why isn't it right?"

"Daleks don't like leather," they told him seriously, and his face softened into a small smile.

"They would look awful in it," the Doctor affirmed, and that was that.

 **oOo**

"Leslie!" the Doctor called, "C'mon! We're going adventuring."

Leslie nodded, glad that the conclusion had finally been reached. _It was inevitable, yet it was still a thing that needed to be discussed. Is logic alive?_

"Where?" Leslie asked.

"I need a weapon," the Doctor admitted, "Adam's taking us to his workshop."

 _A weapon? For what?_ Leslie asked themself. _It's been a while since I saw this one… there was a gun, right? To kill the dalek. It's reasonable. It dies anyway._

"Okay. Can I get a trinket?" Leslie asked, never one to turn down the opportunity to get something useful. Or useless.

"Sure," he said, grinning.

He stepped back to give them room, and they swung their legs off the chair onto the ground. They stood up and shook their feet, before joining the Doctor in walking down the stairs.

 **oOo**

Leslie sat on the desk beside the box as the Doctor went through Adam's collection. His workshop was rather messy, with clutter covering most of the surfaces.

"Broken, broken, hair-dryer," the Doctor muttered. Leslie reached into the box, and pulled out what appeared to be needles or wands, except with small… pores? in the handle.

"What's this?" they asked the Doctor.

He picked it up and examined the white sticks. "Electric wands, of some sort. They focus electrical current into a beam. Like magic, except using natural currents generated by the body."

Leslie took it back gently, not letting their fingers touch the pores. "So, does it aim using the brainwaves? Can it distinguish between currents?"

"Yes, but you may not be able to use it, even though it does magnify the energy - the technology was made for aliens with much stronger brainwaves and electrical output. But you should be able to do it - humans are fantastic at this kind of thing," the Doctor said.

He went back to scavenging through the 'space junk' as Leslie pocketed the wands. _Perhaps my talent with the piano means that I can dual-wield. Either way, equip wandkind._

"Oh, yes," the Doctor said, lifting a cylinder, "Lock and load. Let's go, Leslie."

He ran out the door and started going up the stairs, taking two at a time. Lez looked at Adam before following the Doctor, running at an equal pace just behind him. When they arrived in the area near the sun, the Doctor had his gun aimed at the Dalek. But Rose was standing in front of it.

"It's the sunlight, that's all it wants," Rose pleaded. Leslie looked over to the Dalek. Its casing was open and the creature inside had a tentacle reaching into the sunlight coming through the hole in the roof.

"But it can't-" the Doctor said in disbelief, not wanting to consider that the being that had helped cause the destruction of his race could ever change.

"It couldn't kill Van Statten, it couldn't kill me. It's changing," Rose persisted, "What about you, Doctor? What the hell are you changing into?"

"Rose!" Leslie said, scandalised.

"I couldn't-" the Doctor swallowed, "I wasn't-" he took a shaky breath, and dropped the gun. Leslie wrapped their arms around him, despite their hair only just brushing his chin. _Hugs make everything okay, eventually._

"Oh, Rose. They're all dead," the Doctor said shakily, holding Leslie tight, who in turn leaned into him.

"Why do we survive?" the Dalek asked him. Leslie let go, allowing the Doctor to interact with his final sworn enemy.

"I don't know," the Doctor said truthfully.

"I am the last of the Daleks," the Dalek told him.

"You're not even that," the Doctor told it, "Rose did more than regenerate you. You've absorbed her DNA. You're mutating."

"Into what?" the Dalek asked.

"Something new," he paused, "I'm sorry."

Rose looked from the Doctor to the Dalek and back again. "Isn't that better?" she asked the Doctor.

"Not for a Dalek," the Doctor told her sadly.

"I can feel so many ideas," the Dalek said in wonder, "So much darkness. Rose, give me orders. Order me to die!" it demanded.

"I can't do that." Rose said. _I'm only a year older than her. I couldn't make this decision either._

"This is not life," the Dalek yelled, "this is sickness. I shall not be like you. Order my destruction. Obey! Obey!"

"Do it," Rose told it sadly, tears in her eyes.

"Are you frightened, Rose Tyler?" it asked her.

"Yeah." Rose admitted.

"Are you frightened?" Leslie asked the Dalek.

"Yes," it answered, "I am frightened to not exist."

The end of the statement as a human would say it was left silent. Aren't you?

"Exterminate," the Dalek uttered, sealing its fate as the casing sealed it inside.

Rose ran towards the Doctor, stumbling slightly on the rubble from the ceiling.

The Dalek slowly rose into the air, the spheres that adorned its outer shell separating to form a forcefield around it. Then the Dalek imploded in a burst of golden-white light.

 **oOo**

"Little piece of home," the Doctor said stroking the TARDIS, "Better than nothing."

"Is that the end of it?" Rose asked, "The time war?"

"I'm the only one left," said the Doctor, "I win. How about that?"

"The Dalek survived," Rose pointed out, "Maybe some of your people did too."

"I'd know," said the Doctor, "In here." He tapped his temple. "Feels like there's no-one."

"You know, just because you don't think anyone's there doesn't mean there isn't. It just means that you need a little help to find them," Leslie said, reminded of when they thought they were alone.

The Doctor blinked, as if committing the statement to memory via audio photograph. _Is logic alive?_ Rose mentioned Adam, and the Doctor began complaining about the man as Leslie slipped away into the TARDIS.

Leslie ran down the coral halls, the metal floor clanging as they did so. They turned two corners and ran down a flight of stairs, at which point they found themself in a kitchen.

"Thank-you TARDIS!" they said to the roof. From the stars in a midnight blue sky, the TARDIS gave a whirring hum.

Five minutes later they were sitting at the small table shaped like a crescent moon in the centre of the room, eating a bowl of space-themed cereal soaked in a portion of the slowly-dwindling amount of milk.

"TARDIS," they started, "what do you want me to call you?"

On the wall opposite them, they saw a word being written in reply.

"Home." Leslie read, and they smiled. Then a headache hit them. They groaned, quickly finishing their cereal and slurping down the milk.

"This comes at the worst of times." Lez complained, and the TARDIS gave a whir in agreement. "And I was really hungry, too - I was going to have some toast."

They disappeared in a white light, and when the Doctor came to find them to ask where the trio should go next, all he found was a blue bowl and the word 'Home' written on the wall.

 **xXx**


	8. Just a Bit Clever

When Leslie appeared in their next timeslot, they swayed, gave a small whimper, and fell. They never reached the floor, however, as there was a small scuffling noise and then a pair of cool arms clad in tweed were wrapped around them.

Their eyes were clamped shut and they vaguely heard a baritone voice telling someone to 'get them some water or something, and hurry, they're in a bad state', but Leslie was so disorientated that they didn't even notice they were talking about them. _I hope they turn out okay._ The last thing they were aware of before slipping into protective unconsciousness was cool lips on their forehead, moving to form three words.

" _I'm so sorry..."_

 **oOo**

When Leslie awoke, they were cocooned in puffy blankets, and their head was completely pain-free apart from the slight ache caused by dehydration.

"What does it take to get some water around here?" they asked softly, hoping that if no one was in the room with them then the TARDIS would at least take pity.

They heard a intake of breath, then a voice say, "Leslie! You're up! Finally, I mean, here-"

Leslie was lifted up in bed and given a cup. They cracked their eyes open to see that it was a cup with a lid that formed a straw. _The best kind, probably._ They greedily sipped the water, glad for it.

"The Doctor says that I should do a checkup on you once you wake up, but you're probably hungry, so you should eat first. I'll let them know you're okay. Oh, and there's some food on the bedside table."

Leslie manoeuvred their legs into something resembling a cross-legged position and began eating the food enthusiastically (they assumed that there was a sort of medication in it, as with every bite their headache seemed to lessen and their aching muscles loosened. Though it could just be the fact that it was food - it had amazing healing properties) while looking around the room. Like the kitchen they'd encountered in 9's TARDIS, the roof was a midnight blue with constellations, but it was dome-shaped and the stars seemed to blink and glow on and off in a rippling motion.

The midnight blue faded to a Brandeis blue as the roof/wall curved downward, and the carpet bore a striking resemblance to grass. The bed was situated in the centre of the room and the cotton sheets shimmered like water.

"Home," they said, "this is amazing." The TARDIS hummed in gratitude.

Looking down at the now-empty tray, Leslie became aware of their state of undress- they'd been changed into a singlet and cotton pyjama bottoms. By whom, they had no idea.

"TARDIS, is there a wardrobe?" they asked, then, remembering their previous escapade, they added, "and where are my wands?"

The TARDIS hummed, and in the wall, a panel slid open, displaying a darkened corridor.

Leslie slipped off the bed and padded over to the wardrobe. The lights switched on as she walked through the doorways, and when they lit upon the clothes, their jaw dropped.

Inside the wardrobe (if it could be even called that – it was more like a mall) there was **everything**. Dresses, jeans, one pieces, togs, ball gowns. There were outfits of every kind and every century - the flares of the eighties to the gowns of eighteenth century France and England. There were clothes made of fabrics that they had never seen nor heard of; shimmering scales, smooth fur and a thin fabric so dark that it seemed to suck the air out of everything around it. _Are logical explanations alive?_

So many choices, yet they walked past them all. It was too risky to choose an outfit that would stand out, so they need to choose something simple, something that could be modified depending on use…

Walking past the racks of clothes, they snagged a pair of navy pants that seemed to be skin-tight, and a white singlet. They continued to a sectioned off area, but paused in front of a leather jacket with a soft interior and… incredibly deep pockets? Leslie shrugged, taking it in stride, snagging a pair of lace-up, leather boots. After a brief stint involving the locating and use of the door, they found themself in a spacious bathroom. _Great - another shower I need to learn to use._

 **oOo**

Leslie examined their reflection in the slightly fogged mirror, pulling faces to examine themself. They grinned, taking in their slightly-too-large two front teeth that gave them a childish look when combined with the freckled cheeks and round eyes. They ruffled their hair as they looked down at their outfit, the white standing out against their olive skin. The clothes they found themself in were as casual as the ones they would have worn at university, during endless experiments and lectures. _My biomedical knowledge has been useful in a way I didn't entirely expect when I signed up for the course._

Leslie was happy to say that their fashion sense was at least slightly better than the Doctor's, if only for the more casual appearance. But a second opinion wouldn't hurt, especially from a time-travelling alien that **should** know how to dress on alien planets. Maybe.

 **oOo**

The Doctor spun around on his swing (a right and proper time-tot, Eleven was) and beamed at Leslie.

"So, tell me, in your infinite wisdom - will I live wearing these clothes?" they asked dryly, partially worried that their sarcastic humour would come true. _You can never be too careful in the time vortex._

His smile, if possible, widened. "You shouldn't insult too many major species, but you never know." Leslie nodded seriously. "Also, your shoes are quite cool. Not as cool as bow-ties, but quite cool. A human after my own hearts," the Doctor said fondly.

"Not really, just someone that's a bit clever," they replied cheekily, "But do you think that I'll come in contact with anything likely to kill me? Is this outfit really to die for?"

"There's no bow-tie, unfortunately, so you very well could be in danger," the Doctor answered, turning to hide a smile.

"And here I was, thinking that I was safe at last without the pressures of dressing to impress old-fashioned lecturers," Leslie bemoaned, dramatically reaching into the air with a hand clasped over their heart.

"Unfortunately, no. However, you are fortunate enough to be going somewhere where this outfit will be useful," the Doctor said, standing up and removing his goggles.

"Where?"

"A museum," the Doctor said, pleased.

"A-?" _Was there an episode in a museum? I don't even remember._ "Awesome!"

 **xXx**


	9. Acorn-Official Coordinates

The Doctor wove between various exhibits in the museum, bending down to comment on their accuracy as he went by. Leslie quickly began moving through the exhibits, wishing that they had their phone so that they could take pictures like they usually did. But they hadn't seen it since their graduation; and even if they had, it would be completely discharged.

They examined each of the exhibits before moving to the box that they had been drawn to since they had entered. Not for any magical, timey-wimey reason, but simply because it seemed familiar. Leslie leaned forward, peering through the glass at the etchings. _Gallifreyan._ The small plate stated that it was a Home Box, pinging a barely-remembered episode starter. They began paying more attention to the Doctor and Amy, straightening up slightly.

"Wrong. Wrong. Bit right, mostly wrong," the Doctor listed from somewhere in the room. "I love museums," he told Amy, and Leslie could hear the smile in his voice.

"Yeah, great," Amy said sarcastically. "Can we go to a planet now? Big space ship? Churchill's bunker?" Amy asked imploringly, "You promised us a planet next."

"Amy, this isn't any old asteroid," the Doctor told her, and Leslie heard his voice weaving its way through the exhibits as another pair of footsteps sounded from beside him. "It's the Delerium Archive, the final resting place of the headless monks. The biggest museum ever."

Leslie bit their lip at the mention of the decapitated monks – they remembered the episode of Demon's Run vaguely, but enough to be worried. But all the same, found themself baffled as to the episode they were in.

"You've got a time machine," Amy pointed out, "What do you need museums for?"

The Doctor ignored her and went on with his list of inaccuracy. Lez blocked this out as they ran through all the possible episodes that this could be from, and came up with a blank.

"Wrong. Very wrong." He spotted another exhibit. "Oooh, one of mine," he said excitedly, "Also one of mine."

"Oh, I see," Amy said irritably, "It's how you keep score."

The Doctor noticed Leslie staring at the box in the glass cube with a confused expression on their face as they attempted to work out the logistics of the atomic construction of the box. Also, where the box actually belonged in the timeline **.** He walked over to stand beside them, and Amy followed, standing on the other side.

"Oh great, an old box," Amy said scathingly.

Leslie lifted their head from gazing at the box, raising an eyebrow at the redhead. "Are you going to stop being so ungrateful any time soon? No? Then quit the unneeded comments."

"Geez, sorry, Lez," Amy said, a shocked expression on her face.

"I would hope so," Leslie said scathingly.

The Doctor's eyes widened at the exchange, and he smiled, lifting his hands in a calming gesture. "The box is from one of the old star liners. A Home Box," he explained.

"What's a Home Box?" Amy asked, barely keeping the boredom from her voice. Leslie resisted the urge to glare at her. _What's the point of travelling if you're going to be so ungrateful?_

"Like a black box on a plane, except it homes. Anything happens to the ship, the Home box flies home with all the flight data," the Doctor explained.

"So?"

Leslie cut in. "The writing, the graffiti. Old High Gallifreyan. The lost language of the Time Lords," they informed Amy, somewhat impatiently.

"There were days, there were many days, these words could burn stars and raise up empires and topple gods," the Doctor said in a hushed tone.

"So what does it say?" Amy asked.

"Hello Sweetie. And hey, Lez," the Doctor said incredulously.

"Really?" Amy asked, a condescending grin on her face.

"I get a mention? I'm flattered," Leslie said with a smile.

"So what are we going to do with it?" Amy asked.

"We're going to borrow it." the Doctor said.

"Really. Are we ever going to give it back?" asked Leslie teasingly. He never gave back the TARDIS, after all.

The Doctor pouted. "Maybe. Probably not."

Leslie grinned. "We kind of do need it more. Let's go."

The Doctor whipped out his sonic screwdriver and buzzed the lock on the glass casing. It swung open, and he grabbed it. An alarm blared. The trio started running towards the TARDIS as guards chased after them.

Leslie grabbed the handle and pulled the door open, ushering the Doctor and Amy in, before spinning in themself and shutting the door firmly. The Doctor immediately rushed towards the console and started hooking the stone cube up to the monitor. Leslie leaned against the door, watching the pair.

"Why are we doing this?" Amy asked the Doctor.

"Because someone on a spaceship twelve thousand years ago is trying to attract our attention," he said, indicating himself and Leslie, who twiddled their fingers in a wave.

The Doctor waved back before continuing, "Let's see if we can get the security playback working."

The screen flickered to life to show River lowering her sunglasses and winking at the camera. The Doctor adjusted one of the cables and the video zoomed forward. A man came up to her, flanked by guards.

"Party's over, Doctor Song," he told River, "Yet you're still on board."

"I needed to see what was in your vault," River told him. "Do you all know what's down there? Any of you?" she asked. "Because I'll tell you something. This ship won't reach it's destination."

"Waits 'till she runs," the man told the guards, "Don't make it look like an execution."

River looked down at her watch. "Triple seven five," she started listing, "slash three four nine nine ten, ten twelve slash acorn. Oh, and I could do with an air corridor." she added, perfecting her hair as she did so.

The Doctor moved over to the keyboard and started typing in the coordinates. Leslie raised an eyebrow, a small smile on their face. _Acorn? This is an example of official coordinates - what has the world, sorry, universe come to?_

"What was that?" Amy asked, "What did she say?" She held onto the rail at the bottom of the monitor.

"Coordinates," Leslie told her from the doorway.

The Doctor pulled a few levers and pressed a button that made a 'ding!' noise as the recording of River and the men continued.

"Like I said on the dance floor," River said flirtatiously, "you might want to find something to hold on to."

The man at the front gained a look of surprise as he noticed the airlock seal and he and his men grabbed onto the pipes along the side of the corridor. The airlock behind her opened as River blew a kiss to the men.

The Doctor gave a whoop as the TARDIS materialised and rushed towards the doors. Leslie moved to the side slightly as he pushed one open and reached out to pull River into the TARDIS. They both fell over and Leslie drew in a hissing breath - that would have hurt.

Amy looked at the pair on the floor in shock, her arms at her sides. "Doctor?" She asked.

"River?" The Doctor breathed.

"River!" Leslie said happily, moving over from their position beside the doorway. They bobbed down beside the aliens on the floor.

"Either get up or snog him," they told River seriously, who smirked while the Doctor blushed.

"Sure," River replied flirtatiously. Leslie laughed, and helped her up.

The Doctor jumped to his feet and the three went over to the doors to see the Byzantium zooming off. "Follow that ship," River told him, voice serious now.

The Doctor and River rushed over to the console (this moment was what made Leslie wonder the purpose of that previous statement) and started programming the TARDIS to keep up with the ship. Leslie made their way over at a leisurely pace (she couldn't fly the TARDIS, so they wouldn't be of much help. They may as well take her time). River took off her heels and hung them on the bar underneath the screen.

"They've gone into warp drive," River stated, checking the screen, "We're losing them. Stay close."

"I'm trying," said the Doctor, pushing buttons and pulling levers. Leslie went over to Amy, and leant on the railing next to her.

"Heya Ames! How's life on the TARDIS?" they asked Amy cheerfully in a whisper.

"Boring," Amy complained, "I want to see a planet."

Leslie rolled their eyes, but couldn't be bothered to point out the faults in the statement, instead choosing to reply with, "Yeah, for a alien with a ship that travels in time and space, you would think that he would be able to go to a place other than England."

The two laughed in hushed tones, drawing the attention of the Doctor, who had just sat down in a huff on the pilot's chair.

"Watch this," Amy whispered quietly in Leslie's ear. "Doctor," she started. "How come she can fly the TARDIS?" she asked.

This seemed to send the Doctor deeper into his tiff. "You call that flying the TARDIS? Ha!"

"Okay," River started, "I've mapped the probability vectors, done a fold-back on the temporal isometry, charted the ship to it's destination, and parked us right along-side."

"Translation," Leslie called out to the room at large, "You've mapped the quantity with both direction and magnitude that has elements which are non-negative real numbers that add up to one, amplified the time and distance preserving map between two spaces from behind, followed the ship to its destination using the the reverse magnified time and distance preserving map and landed." They bowed, grinning at Amy's applause.

The Doctor, however, was too focused on the last part of their statement to have any appreciation for what they said.

"We haven't landed," he told River, who smiled smugly.

"Of course we did. I just landed her," she told him.

"But, it didn't make the noise," the Doctor said, akin to a child whining.

"What noise?" River asked him, acting confused to rile him up.

"You know, the-" the Doctor tried, and failed, to imitate the sound the TARDIS made when it landed. Leslie clicked their fingers, and the TARDIS played the noise (when the Doctor was trying to make the wheezing noise, they had thought at the TARDIS, very nicely, to make the noise when they clicked. The TARDIS appreciated when they were polite, it seemed). The Doctor gave them an incredibly grateful look, to which they answered with a winning smile.

"It's not supposed to make that noise," River told him, "You leave the breaks on."

"Yeah, well, it's a brilliant noise. I love that noise," the Doctor blustered, straightening his bow-tie self-righteously.

"Come along, Pond. Let's have a look," he said. He started to walk towards the doors, Amy following.

"No, wait," River called after them, "Environment checks."

"Oh, yes, sorry," retorted the Doctor, who had reached the doors, "Quite right. Environment checks." He opened the doors and swung out.

"Nice out," he said matter-of-factly.

River looked over to the screen. "We're somewhere in the Garn Belt. There's an atmosphere. Early indications suggest that-" the Doctor cut her off.

"We're on Alfava Metraxis, the seventh planet of the Dundra system. Oxygen rich atmosphere, all toxins in the soft band, eleven hour day and chances of rain later," he prattled off smugly. Leslie raised an eyebrow, looking at River to confirm that he hadn't seen the screen. _Time lords._

"He thinks he's so hot when he does that," River sighed in exasperation. She and Leslie walked towards the doors.

"Does what?" Leslie asked her. "Imitates a GPS and the radio weather? "And in today's forecast, sunny with chances of rain, and a high UV level, so wear some sunscreen." " They imitated a seemingly constipated reporter as the said this, causing River to give a smile.

"How come you can fly the TARDIS?" Amy asked River.

"I was taught by the very best." River boasted.

The Doctor looked smug, "Yeah, well-"

"It's a shame you were busy that day," River told him, and his face turned 'grumpy' as Amy would put it later. "Leslie is an excellent tutor. Right then, why did they land here?" she asked rhetorically.

 _Tutor? Well, I already am a tutor for my classmates and online friends, but since when could I fly the TARDIS? Oh, yea, manual. I guess that I prove myself worthy, considering that the TARDIS hasn't crashed yet._ Leslie stopped in their tracks, their eyes growing wide as they peered through the door to look at the planet. _Oh, no. Why, of all episodes my dream could have landed me in, why this one?_

"They didn't land." Leslie sighed, resigned. _I guess I'll just help Amy and tag along for the rest of it._

"Sorry?" River said, unsure of what she had heard.

"You should have checked the Home Box," the Doctor told her, "It crashed."

River went slightly pale, and rushed out of the TARDIS. Amy turned to the Doctor.

"Explain," she said shortly, "Who is that and how did she do that museum thing?"

"It's a long story and I don't know most of it," The Doctor said in an equal tone. "Off we go," he started walking towards the console.

"What are you doing?" Amy said, remaining by the door, next to Leslie.

"Leaving," the Doctor said in staccato, "She's got where she wants to go, let's go where we want to go."

"Are you basically running away?" Amy asked bluntly. _Of course he is,_ Leslie thought. _He who fights and runs away, lives to fight another day. Though the Doctor has sworn against violence, so it's more like: he who runs away, lives another day (which is still true)_.

"Yep," the Doctor replied.

"Why?" Amy asked. _Because he has the ability to,_ Leslie answered internally.

"Because she's the future. My future."

"Can you run away from that?" Amy asked, full of questions. _Can anyone really escape the future?_ Leslie wondered.

"I can run away from anything I like. Time is not the boss of me," the Doctor said.

"Except when it is, and you make terrible mistakes for believing that you can control it," Leslie commented off-handedly, their brows furrowed. The Doctor made a choked noise, and Leslie looked to him with innocent, wide eyes. "Oh, sorry, was that too honest?"

"Hang on," Amy said slowly, breaking the awkward silence caused by a declaration of the truth. "Is that a planet out there?" she asked.

"Yes, of course it's a planet - this isn't some sort of simulation," Leslie said.

"You promised us a planet," Amy pointed out to the Doctor.

"Five minutes?" Leslie pleaded, catching on.

The Doctor relented, "Okay, five minutes."

"Yes!" Amy cheered, running out the door.

Leslie followed, turning to see if the Doctor was behind them. Seeing them look back, he added, "But that's all, because I'm telling you now, that woman is not dragging me into anything."

The Doctor followed them out of the TARDIS to where they were standing five feet away, staring, transfixed, at the spaceship.

"What caused it to crash?" Amy asked.

"Not me," River commented, sounding slightly unsure.

"Nah, the airlock would have sealed seconds after you blew it," the Doctor told her, "According to the Home Box, the warp engines had a phase shift. No survivors."

Leslie wandered off, trying to get a closer look at the building, their boots scraping slightly against the rocks covering the ground. _From the way it looks, you wouldn't be able to tell that as soon as you go into it, you're a goner. But it's filled with millions upon millions of statues, and all of them Weeping Angels. What if I mess this up and we don't make it?_

Behind them, they heard River, the Doctor and Father Octavian (who had walked over from seemingly nowhere) talking about the 'mission'. One statement stood out among the rest.

"Doctor, what do you know of the Weeping Angels?"

 _Well, he's going to know far more after this, don't you worry._

 **xXx**


	10. The Dimension of Screaming

By the time the sun had set, the rest of Octavian's troops had set up camp around the small container unit with their supplies. The Doctor walked over to the rock Leslie was sitting on and sat down beside them. He'd sent Amy back to the TARDIS, a noble but futile effort on his behalf.

"On a scale of one to ten, how scared are you about this?"

Leslie wasn't sure how to answer that. The entire thing was going to be horrifically scary, but it all depended on the perception. They were totally cool with gore-filled animatronics, but couldn't handle body horror. They were completely fine with dolls, but deadly statues...

"About a seven, in theory" they said honestly, "Practically, I'm sure it's going to be at least a ten, for everyone involved. Amy will probably take it the worst."

"What would make Amy so scared?" the Doctor asked, genuinely curious.

 _Oh, you know, she'll be almost killed and taken over by an angel, it's no biggie_ , Leslie felt like saying. But they settled with a shrug, which apparently to the Doctor meant, I-know-but-can't-tell-you, and let the matter drop.

"Come with me to talk to Octavian?" the Doctor asked after a few minutes.

"I thought you'd never ask, oh kind gentleman," Leslie said, and he took their hand dramatically as they walked to the bishop, who was standing at a table.

"So, what's the mission status?" the Doctor asked him, his hand slipping out of theirs.

"The Angel, as far as we know, is still trapped in the ship," Octavian informed him, "Our mission is to get in a neutralise it."

Leslie frowned. He still had a bit to explain. "How are we going to get in?" they asked him, despite knowing the basic answer.

"We can't get through the top, we'd be too close to the drives," Octavian answered, "According to to this," he indicated the small device he was using as a map, "behind the cliff face there's a network of catacombs leading right up to the temple. We can blow through the base of the cliffs, get into the entrance chamber, then make our way up."

"Oh, good," the Doctor muttered, bumping shoulders with Leslie to flash a reassuring smile that neither of them believed.

"Good, sir?" Octavian asked, confused about how this news could possibly be good.

"Catacombs," the Doctor said in explanation. "Probably dark ones. Dark catacombs. Great," he finished sarcastically.

"Technically, I think it's called a maze of the dead," Octavian corrected.

"You can stop any time you like," Leslie said cheerfully. _I **so** need to be reminded of this episode. Actually, no, I do._

A soldier came up behind Octavian. "Father Octavian?" he asked, to get his attention.

"Excuse me, sir," Octavian said to the Doctor, and followed the soldier.

Amy came up behind them."You're letting people call you sir," she pointed out, "So, whatever a Weeping Angel is, it's really bad, yeah?"

The Doctor turned to face her, Leslie turning with him. "Now that's interesting," he said, "Which part of, 'Wait in the TARDIS 'till I tell you it's safe' was so confusing?"

"Oooh, you are all Mister Grumpy Face today," Amy teased.

"A Weeping Angel, Amy, is the deadliest, most powerful, most malevolent life form in the universe, and I'm supposed to climb after it with a screwdriver and a torch, and assuming I survive the radiation, and assuming the whole ship doesn't blow up in my face, do something incredibly clever that I haven't actually thought of yet. That's my day. That's what I'm up to. Any questions?" the Doctor snapped as Leslie echoed the last statement. A sign of how stressed the Doctor was that he didn't react to it.

Amy, once again, demonstrated her lack of tact. "Is River song your wife? Because she's someone from your future, and the way she talks to you, I've never seen anyone besides Leslie do that. She's kind of like, you know, 'heel, boy.' She's Mrs Doctor from the future, isn't she? Is she going to be your wife one day?" she asked.

Leslie went into the dimension in which they scream, summoning a mind version of Amy just to slap her.

"Yes, you're right. I am most definitely Mister Grumpy Face today," the Doctor said, resigned.

Leslie looked up at him and smiled reassuringly before raising a brow in Amy's direction and pulling a face. The Doctor relaxed slightly, nodding slightly.

River called over from the drop module, "Doctor! Doctor?" Leslie looked over to see her in combat fatigues. They looked down at their own outfit, and shrugged; Amy's was much worse.

"Oops," Amy commented, "Her indoors." She was ignored.

"Father Octavian," River called again.

"Why do they call him Father?" Amy asked the Doctor.

"He's the bishop, they're his clerics. It's the fifty-first century. The Church has moved on," He answered.

Leslie laughed seemingly spontaneously. The church hasn't even moved back home. One would hope that they would stop praising a god that has, apparently, tried to kill us numerous times, but no.

The Doctor raised an amused eyebrow, which was lowered as River came closer and said morosely, "I've got something you should see."

The trio followed her and Octavian into the drop ship, where they found a grainy four second loop of an angel on the monitor on the far wall. Leslie sighed, beginning their staring competition with it. It won't need to be for too long - and I can blink one eye at a time if I need to. I'm going to try and fix this.

"What do you think?" River asked him. "It's from the security cameras in the Byzantium vault. I ripped it when I was on board. Sorry about the quality. It's only four seconds, but I've put it on a loop," she said.

"Yeah, it's an angel," the Doctor said, "Hands covering it's face." He pointed out their main characteristic.

Leslie couldn't help but add their two-pennies-worth. "And it's got wings, and is wearing a dress, and isn't moving as if it's made of stone, and basically looks like a Weeping Angel. Anything I've missed?" they asked rhetorically.

"You've encountered the Angels before." Octavian stated.

"Nope!" said Leslie in a falsely cheerful voice.

"Once, on Earth, a long time ago. But those were scavengers, barely surviving," the Doctor said distractedly.

"Oh, c'mon, Doctor, it wasn't that long ago," Leslie said amiably.

"But it's just a statue," Amy pointed out.

"It's just a statue when you see it," Leslie and River said in unison.

River shot Leslie an odd look and they barely refrained from rolling their eyes, needing to keep contact with the statue - what was it now? What had they done to receive such a worried look – filled with, dare they say, fear?

xXx


	11. Cheeky Sacrifice (facepalm x2 combo)

"Where did it come from?" the Doctor asked.

"Oh, pulled from the ruins of Razbahan, end of last century. It's been in private hands ever since. Dormant all the time," River answered.

"There's a different between dormant and patient," the Doctor told her.

"What's that mean," Amy asked, "it's a statue when you can see it?"

"The Weeping Angels can only move if they're unseen," River said, "So legend has it."

Leslie didn't take the chance to spare River a glance, instead stating, "It's not legend. It's a defence mechanism - they turn to stone when seen by any living thing. It's a lock on their cells, meaning that they can't be killed."

"The ultimate defence mechanism," the Doctor said softly.

"What, being a stone?" Amy asked.

"Being a stone until you turn your back," the Doctor told her in a low voice. The room was silent, all staring at the statue, giving Leslie the chance to blink their watering eyes.

"Alright!" the Doctor clapped his hands, making the occupants of the room flinch. "Let's go outside?"

"Nah, I'll stay here," Leslie told him, "I need to check something."

"Alright." The Doctor nodded, a frown on his face. "Amy, River, Father Octavian?" he asked. The aforementioned people nodded and followed them out while Leslie stared at the angel.

They were rather good at staring at things for prolonged periods of time. If they hadn't have been, there would have been no way that they would have been able to watch and read as much as they did. Blinking meant that they could not read as fast - which was always negative.

However, their examination of the Angel's wings (they counted at least fifty feathers, and had learnt something about wing formations) had been broken when Amy opened the door to the drop ship to join them, when they looked back, she saw that the Angel had raised its face from its hands slightly and had started looking over its shoulder.

Amy called out. "Leslie?" she asked the person having the staring contest with the screen, "Leslie? What are you doing?"

She moved her hand in front of Leslie's eyes, and they jumped.

They went into the dimension in which they screamed before returning. _And I'd been doing so well._

"Oh well, it's not like I would have been allowed to change anything," they muttered.

"Change what?" Amy asked them.

"Change what is going to happen next," Leslie answered, resisting the temptation to bury their head in their hands or attempt a facepalm combo x2. They heard the module door close and give a click.

"That would be the deadlock," they muttered. Amy was looking at them oddly, from what they could see out of the corner of their eyes, and they decided they at least owed the redhead an explanation.

"The screen," Leslie told her, gesturing towards the monitor with their head. During the conversation, the Angel had moved closer to the camera. _How long until it gets out?_

Amy looked to the screen with a look of shock on her face. She tried to turn off the monitor, but every time the screen faded to black, the Angel switched it back on again. Leslie would have loved to keep looking at the angel, keep them both safe, but this had to happen to one of them, and she was in no way intending it to be Amy.

"But you're just a recording," Amy told it, "You can't move."

She tried to pull out the lead to the monitor, getting in Leslie's line of vision as she did so, but it wouldn't budge. When she moved out of the way, the Angel was up close to the camera.

"Amelia..." Leslie paused. Their friend turned to look at them, and blocked their view of the Angel again. "The image of an angel becomes in itself an angel. So no photos, no recordings, no remembering. We are in immense danger, but you need to stay calm and listen to me," they implored.

This was vitally important information, and, yes, it **was** scary, but Amy went into a full-on panic. She rushed over to open the door, knocking Leslie over in the progress. She then started banging on the metal, calling for help all the while.

"Amelia Jessica Pond!" Leslie yelled. "Yes, you're panicking, yes, you may be about to die, but you need to, once again, calm down!" They looked back at the angel, but it was too late - it had skipped the last stage entirely and was now flickering with the recording inside the room.

Amy, however, was not going to calm down. "Doctor!" she yelled.

Leslie heard an answering voice shout, "Leslie! Amelia!"

Amy called out again as Leslie kept looking at the Angel that was now in the room with them. "Doctor!"

They heard a frantic voice calling from outside the drop ship, "Are you alright? What's happening?"

"Doctor? Doctor, it's come out of the television," said Amy in a voice just as panicked as the Doctor's. Leslie just kept staring at the angel, trying not to look into its eyes.

They could hear voices from outside, but they were focusing on looking at the Angel's dress, wings, anywhere but the eyes. But they were like magnets, and they screwed their own shut, trying to focus. _Big mistake._ The angel grabbed their face between its hands and forced them to meet its eyes.

They growled, pulling their face back, but they were caught between unmoving stone and weren't willing to risk their face to escape. No, wait, they were.

Leslie pulled backwards, their skin sliding over their cheekbones and grazing against stone as they escaped the angel's grasp. But they were unaware that the damage was already done. As they tore their cheeks from the angel's grasp, it vanished, the screen dark.

"I froze it. There was some sort of blip on the tape and I froze it on the blip. It wasn't the image of an Angel anymore. That was good, yeah? It was, wasn't it? That was pretty good."

They heard River's voice say, "That was amazing," and the Doctor telling her to hug Amy.

"Why?" River asked.

"I'm busy hugging Leslie," was his reply.

The Doctor leaned down beside Leslie and gathered them up into his arms, noticing how they kept their eyes firmly shut. They had never been more glad that they were light enough to be carried. That had been scary. _I wish I had my friends. I'm sure that they would have advice._

"Are you okay?" the Doctor asked, moving them over to the table outside.

"Shhh, my eyes are sleeping," they said seriously, but he didn't laugh. "Come on, you could at least pretend that I'm funny. I'm hurt, really. Is humour alive?"

"So, how are the eyes? They still working in there?" he began bantering, adhering to their joking demands.

"Nothing wrong with them, as far as I can tell. Just a bit exhausted, and pained. It kind of hurts keeping them shut, to be honest," Leslie admitted, opening their eyes and blinking several times.

The sky was still dark, clouds absent. The catacombs loomed in the near distance, the aura ominous. They screwed their mouth to one side, noting the Doctor's anxious face. An explosion sounded, causing them both to flinch. Octavian's shouting alerted them that it was time to enter the tombs. But would it be theirs too?

Leslie put their hands in their pockets, feeling the wands' reassuring texture beneath their fingertips. _Come at me._

 **xXx**


	12. Red Tetris Block Top

Their boots made a crunch noise on the floor as Leslie released the rope and dropped the last half-metre to the floor of the entrance chamber. Ignoring the causeless throb in her leg, they moved towards the front of the group to stand next to the Doctor as the last of the clerics came down the rope.

"Do we have a gravity globe?" the Doctor asked Octavian.

"Grav globe," Octavian said, and one of the the Clerics moved forwards to hand the Doctor the ball.

"Where are we?" Amy asked, looking around, trying to see with the small beam of her torch, "What is this?"

"It's called an Aplan Mortarium, sometimes called a Maze of the Dead," River told her. _A Maze of the Dead... doesn't that sound absolutely lovely?_ Leslie remarked internally.

"What's that?" asked Amy, wanting more of an explanation.

"Well, if you happen to be a creature of living stone..." Leslie started, then paused for effect as the Doctor kicked the gravity globe into the air, where it illuminated the hundreds of statues and mausoleums that filled the maze of the dead. Leslie took a shaky breath. _There's nothing I can do to stop this._

"...the perfect hiding place," they completed, their voice firm in their fear. The Doctor pulled them into a one-armed hug, and Leslie accepted it gratefully, despite the stick poking into the soft area below their ribs. _It's not just a hiding place. But how did they all get here? What happened to the original statues? This can't make any sense._

"I guess this makes it a bit trickier," Octavian commented, seemingly nonchalantly.

"A bit, yeah," the Doctor said off-handedly, arm still around Leslie's shoulders.

"A stone Angel on the loose amongst stone statues," Octavian emphasised, looking around. "A lot harder than I'd prayed for," he admitted.

"A needle in a haystack," River said, looking out at all the statues in a horrified wonder.

"A needle that looks like a hay. A hay-like needle of death," the Doctor offered, "A hay-like needle of death in a haystack of, er, statues. No, yours was fine."

Leslie snickered and the Doctor removed his arm from them and gave them a scandalised expression. They frowned, before smiling with an eyebrow raised. _Communication through facial expressions. Taking the audio out of audiovisual._

Octavian started ordering his clerics. "Right. Check every single statue in this chamber. You know what you're looking for. Complete visual inspection."

He turned to the Doctor. "One question," he said to him, "How do we fight it?"

We find it, and hope," the Doctor answered grimly.

Leslie rubbed at their eyes with both hands before moving them down to pat at their slightly grazed cheeks, wincing as the slight amount of sweat produced by their anxiety regarding the situation smarted and stung the lower layers of skin. But the injury wasn't too bad - it was localised and on the face, meaning that the skin would likely heal over faster. _It's more prone to scarring, but I'll just tan over it. Back to the problem at hand: we are so screwed._

 **oOo**

The Doctor, Leslie and Amy started walking up the terraces. Leslie was fighting back the urge to rub their eye - they must have irritated it when they touched their face earlier - but gave into it, wetting the tip of their finger and running it over the bottom of their eye. They inspected the irritants, finding an unnatural amount of… powder? _Stone powder, what- oh no. Oh, no, no, no. Well, I've already messed something up. May as well not go in blind. Badumtis._

"You all right?" River asked Leslie from beside them, making them jump slightly.

"I think the angel did something while I was in the room with them - do you know anything about…?" Leslie trailed off as they saw River's expression. There was a slight amount of shock, a trace of worry, but a fair amount of disbelief. _Well, I can;t just tell them outright - they have enough to worry about._

"Here, give me your arm," River told them, and Leslie turned to face her, holding out their left arm for her to jab the viro-stabiliser in, pointedly looking anywhere but the needle-like object.

Leslie ran for a short distance to catch up with the Doctor as Amy dropped down from the Doctor's side to talk to River. Leslie looked at River's portable computer, hoping to understand what the Doctor was doing with it, only to raise an eyebrow at him.

"Holding it both upside down, **and** listening in on their conversation? Wow, rude," Leslie admonished him. The Doctor turned it right-way up hurriedly, looking back to see if River had heard.

"What if they'd heard!" the Doctor hissed without any venom, "You'd break my standpoint as being the coolest person in the room." He adjusted his bow-tie, and Leslie raised an eyebrow.

"I think that would be me," they rebuffed, straightening their jacket with afaked cocky smirk.

"You two are just massive dorks, don't deny it!" Amy called up, proving that she had heard the last dregs of the conversation.

"We all know I'm the coolest," River said in a condescending tone, joining in on the banter.

"I'm hurt that you would suggest such a thing," Leslie exclaimed, scandalised. "I mean, look at those clothes! Nah, honey, you're going to have to try better to beat this sense of style." They gestured at their simple outfit, a grin on their face as River folded her arms in false petulance.

"Excuse me? I beat all of you," Amy said, striking a post that demonstrated the geometrical cut of her top. _It looks like a red tetris block. How does she pull it off?_

Leslie was left wondering how Amy could look so great in an outfit so… baggy... when a gunshot sounded, attracting the small group's attention. They all looked at each other, communicating wordlessly, before running through the tunnels to where the gun had been shot.

The group ran in to discover that a young cleric had shot at a statue, and the main group had moved closer to him. Leslie stopped dead in their tracks at the snarl on its crumbling face, straightening their shoulders. _Already? I thought we had more time!_

"Sorry, sorry," the cleric – Bob, that was it! - apologised, "I thought- I thought it looked at me."

"We know what the angel looks like. Is that the Angel?" Octavian asked in a slightly patronising tone.

"No, sir," Bob said. _Well it's not the angel, but it is an angel, unless you want it to have a certified sticker?_ Leslie thought sardonically.

"No, sir, it is not. According to the Doctor, we are facing a being of unknowable power and infinite evil, so it would be good, it would be very good, if we could all remain calm in the presence of décor," Octavian said, not only to Bob, but the rest of the Clerics. Leslie couldn't help but mentally correct his statement: _being_ _ **s**_ _._

"What's your name?" the Doctor asked Bob. Bob shuffled slightly as the torchlight was pointed in his direction.

"Bob, sir," he said uncertainly.

"Ah, that's a great name," the Doctor replied cheerfully, "I love Bob."

"It's a Sacred Name," Octavian informed him, "We all have Sacred Names. They're given to us in the service of the Church."

"Sacred Bob," the Doctor said. "More like scared Bob now, eh?" he asked Bob.

"Yes, sir," Bob said truthfully. _The name 'Bob' is being tossed about a bit, isn't it? And if you have fun of him, Doctor, I swear..._

"Ah, good. Scared keeps you fast. Anyone in this room who isn't scared is a moron," the Doctor told him. _Quite rightly so, making me one of the cleverest people in the room, probably._

"Carry on," he said flippantly to Octavian, showing that he didn't care for the father's dismissive attitude toward Bob.

"We'll be moving into the maze in two minutes," Octavian told his men. To Bob, he said, "You stay with Christian and Angelo. Guard the approach."

Leslie tapped Bob on the soldier. "Can I talk to you for a moment?" she asked him, and he nodded. She was giving advice to a dead man, but she couldn't let him just leave without her saying **something** to him.

"Now, listen," they said, their voice low, "Your fear will make you fast, but no matter how fast you run, the Angels will always be faster." Bob looked at her with fear etched in every part of his face, his eyes wide.

 _Eyes are so expressive - the doors to the soul must be made of glass, likely stained for the iris._

"And I hate to say it, but if they catch you, you're not going to make it. But you seem like you can avoid that. Your reflexes are fast and you have a keen eye. And you seem exceptionally brave to me, Bob," they told him truthfully. He smiled at them, his face stronger and calmer. They smiled back, reassuring. _Is this his last smile? Am I going to be the last person to see this smile on this face?_

Leslie stepped back. "Good luck," they said, looking at his eyes in turn, seeing the fear in them, but also the gratitude.

They felt a pang of guilt that resounded through their whole body at what fate would befall the young cleric. Guilt accompanied by sadness, which seemed to flow through them like music would from a piano. They watched as he turned and hurried away, and they turned and caught up with the Doctor.

 _What have I gotten myself into? If this is a dream, I could do with waking up before I die._

 **xXx**


	13. Lucky 8r8k, Mr Thick

They wiped at their eyes and continued into the dark maze, using the torchlight to follow the footprints of the Doctor, ignoring the ruined Angels as their heads turned to face them. _If this really is a dream, I won't be hurt. If it isn't, this is my fate. But here's to hoping I catch a 'lucky 8r8k!'_. The Angels that had previously lined the walls of the paths had begun moving towards the Byzantium in disarray and they had to weave in and out of the frozen statues. Upon hearing the voices of the others, they moved slightly faster, ducking as hands from behind tried to clutch their clothes and hair.

They reached the group just as they heard River say, "Only two levels to go."

"Awesome, that means I only have to tag along for the end of this," Leslie said, frightening them all. The Doctor walked over to them.

"Where have you been?" he asked them.

"Oh, you know," they shrugged nonchalantly. "In a dark catacomb with a Weeping Angel somewhere nearby. I was admiring the Aplans," they told him. The Doctor didn't look very happy, but he left it.

"Lovely species, the Aplans. We should visit them sometime," he said.

"I thought they were all dead," Amy frowned.

"Time travel, Amy," Leslie pointed out, gesturing to the area around them. Amy nodded, blushing slightly in embarrassment.

"Very relaxed, sort of cheerful," the Doctor continued with his description of the Aplans, "Well, that's having two heads. You're never short of a snog with an extra head."

"Doctor, there's something. I don't know what it is," River said. Leslie could practically hear the frown.

They moved to lean against a wall, resisting the urge to bang their head against it. "Penny in the air. So many pennies. The air is metallic with the scent of pennies," Leslie commented dryly.

"Yeah, there's something wrong," the Doctor agreed, "Don't know what it is yet, either. Working on it. Of course, then they started having laws against self-marrying. I mean, what was that about? But that's the church for you."

"It's the same person, Doctor, it kind of makes sense. Well, the same body. Wow, rude either way," Leslie commented before sighing, deeply. _I thought aliens were clever? Mind you, the Doctor is Mr Thick Thickedy Thick Thick from Thicktown, Thickania or something._

"Er, no offence, Bishop," the Doctor said apologetically.

"Quite a lot taken, if that's alright, Doctor," Octavian said, "Lowest point in the wreckage is only about fifty feet up from here. That way." He pointed in the direction of the ship.

"The church had a point, if you think about it," Amy commented, "The divorces must have been messy."

"Oh," the Doctor said as he realised. Leslie almost fell over with relief. _That took forever._

"What's wrong?" Amy asked.

"Oh," River repeated, as she too realised what was going on.

"And the penny drops!" Leslie said over-dramatically. "Thank you for watching Thick Aliens Weekly, where we watch extra-terrestrials try to see past low-level perception filters. On next, Terror. Do not pass go, do not collect two-hundred dollars."

They pushed themselves off the wall, the wands ( _I'm calling them wands now, it's just easier_ ) a comforting weight in their pockets, despite their complete inability to use them. It was nice to have a weapon, even if the most they could do was poke a statue in the eye with it.

"What's wrong, sir?" asked Octavian.

"Nobody move," said the Doctor in a low voice, "Nobody move. Everyone stay exactly where we are. Bishop, I am truly sorry. I've made a mistake and we are all in terrible danger."

Leslie began walking over to him, bumping his shoulder and smiling reassuringly. They were doing a lot of that - it was like exam blocks all over again.

"What danger?" asked aforementioned Bishop.

"The Aplans," River said, building tension. Leslie went into the dimension in which they scream and did so. _Could you maybe not do that when our lives are at stake?_

"The Aplans?" Octavian asked, confused.

"They've got two heads," River commented calmly, moving in so that the group tightened. She kept her beam of light focused on one of the faces as the Doctor did the same. Leslie cursed, realising that they'd forgotten a torch. _Maybe…?_

"Yes, I get that. So?" Octavian asked irritably.

"So why don't the statues?" Leslie cried in exasperation, "Were you even paying attention to anything we said? This is the Aplan's maze of the dead, where they bury two-headed individuals. But all of the statues have one head!" Leslie gripped one of the wands for comfort and the tip started glowing. _At least I have a torch for the staring contest._

"Wait, that means-"

"Yes, Amy, the statues are all angels." And on that sudden, solid note, the temperature seemed to drop ten degrees.

 **xXx**


	14. The Medallion Says That's Dumb, So

"Everyone, over there, please. Don't ask questions, don't speak," the Doctor said, his voice filled with anger. Or was that fear?

He pulled Leslie into an alcove that was relatively away from the statues, and Leslie pressed their back against the jagged stone wall, grateful for the leather between it and them. The others followed, Octavian eyeing the Doctor with something akin to distrust. Leslie knew what he was thinking – _Why didn't the Doctor, who had been described as incredible, know?_

"Okay, I want you to switch off all of your torches," the Doctor said, his voice serious. Leslie stared at him in shock.

"Well, the medallion says that's dumb, so we're not going to do that," Leslie quoted, rolling their eyes at everyone's expressions. "What, do you want to prove that they can kill us by giving them the chance to kill us? No thanks."

"Oh," the Doctor said, his brow furrowing, "Yes, I see your point."

"But the real question is: do you trust us enough to take us at our word?" River asked Octavian, who swallowed, looking at the screaming statues. He nodded, and River smiled.

"Wait, so you mean to say that all of these statues are angels?" a cleric asked, and Leslie nodded.

"Oh, my god," Amy said, her accent strong in her fear, "they've moved. Like the one on the screen."

Leslie looked down the corridor to see that, even during their brief conversation, the statues had moved closer to the group. Their crumbling arms were reaching out, their fingers firm in their empty grasps.

"They're angels. All of them. You were right, Leslie," the Doctor said in shock.

"But they can't all be, it doesn't make any sense," River said, unable to, or unwilling to, believe the cold hard facts. _Since when has things making sense ever mattered before?_

"Clerics, keep watching them," the Doctor ordered, and the men did so, their torches shining on the statues.

The time-lord ran back towards the main cavern, the one looking out onto the narrow pathways and bridges leading to the separate rooms. Leslie followed, noting that the previously sparse statues were now in abundance, each of them reaching stubby fingers, ruined by age, towards them.

"Every statue in this maze, every single one, is a Weeping Angel," the Doctor said, stating the obvious, "They're coming after us."

Leslie's heart was beating so hard and fast, they were afraid that it would punch a hole in their ribs and fall out of their chest, despite the scientific impossibility. And when they next turned to shine the light from their wand on an angel, its jagged teeth were bared in a smile.

 **oOo**

"But there was only one Angel on the ship. Just the one, I swear," River was saying as they hastily moved toward the wrecked ship.

"Could they have been here already?" Amy asked, thinking logically. Leslie gave her a thumbs-up and she smiled, despite the situation.

"The Aplans. What happened? How did they die out?" the Doctor asked River.

"Nobody knows," River told him, and the Doctor's face grew grim.

"We know," he said simply.

They quickened their pace, Leslie's boots scuffing against the unforgiving stone. _I wonder what it would be like to be made of stone? Do they keep their conscious thought? Are they alive when they're stone? What if they're made of stone all the time? What if they're really soft when nobody is watching?_

"They don't look like Angels," Octavian pointed out.

"And they're not fast. You said they were fast. They should have had us by now," Amy said, as if in accusation. Leslie nodded, impressed. _Brave with the Doctor, not so much without._

"Look at them," the Doctor said, gesturing toward the statues with the beam of his torch, "They're dying, losing their form. They must have been down here for centuries, starving."

"Losing their image?" Leslie provided and the Doctor flashed a grin their way.

"And their image is their power," he finished, then his thoughts juttered to a conclusion. He halted in his tracks, Leslie stopping beside him. _Finally,_ they thought. _It seems like a longer time when you're in it._

"Power," he said with realisation, "Power!"

"Doctor?" Amy questioned.

"Don't you see?" aforementioned Doctor said excitedly, "All that radiation spilling out the drive burn. The crash of the Byzantium wasn't an accident, it was a rescue mission for the Angels. We're in the middle of an army, and it's waking up," he finished, not so excited at this point.

"We need to get out of here, fast," River provided.

"I don't know if we can," Leslie noted, "We're almost at the heart of this - if we try and escape, we'll have to go through thousands of statues."

"And they're growing more powerful every second we spend in here," the Doctor said grimly.

Leslie looked nervously at the statues surrounding the group. _The Doctor was only facing five or six angels before. There are thousands in here. A_ _Maze of the Dead._ A chill ran down their spine. _We're the dead._

 **xXx**

 _There we have it! The edited version is now caught up. Expect updates eventually._

 _Catcha!_ :D

 _\- Little_


End file.
